DRAFTSTATEMENTHEADEDTOREGENTS

A compromise mission statement for the state university system drafted Monday should resolve concerns among faculty that the Kansas Board of Regents is trying to centralize control of universities, a regents' official said today.

The mission statement prepared by a committee appointed by regents, if approved by the board, will guide decision-making at Kansas University and five other state universities in the 1990s.

"We've moved away from the centralization issue," said Stanley Koplik, regents executive director.

The compromise statement doesn't include a proposal that would have allowed regents to one day distribute all state funding to universities. Currently, the Legislature decides how much goes to each state university.

University faculty had expressed alarm about the funding proposal and other elements of a draft mission statement prepared by regents' staff, claiming it amounted to a power grab by the board.

Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academic affairs at Kansas University and a member of the committee formed by the regents, said he supports the compromise statement.

"We came up with a document that I think everybody pretty much agrees, under the circumstances, is an acceptable one," he said.

Brinkman was KU's representative on the committee, which met in Salina.